Sitting On A Clock Tower, Minding My Own Business
by Ysavvryl
Summary: Of course, said business involves the other person on this tower.


**Sitting On A Clock Tower, Minding My Own Business**

The afternoon brought a busy bustling to South Clock Town. All around the giant clock tower, carpenters, merchants, and several others were preparing for the annual festival. While the moon was unusually large in the sky, it was nothing they got concerned about. It was only the first day, after all. Decorations were going up on poles and walls. Booths and a celebration platform were being built. If things went as planned, this area should be festive and lively in three days.

But of the many people there, few looked up to notice a boy in green watching over them. Link knew that all their efforts now would mean little when the festival should begin. If he wanted to, he could strengthen the rumors that people should leave town. Not that it meant much when the moon was crashing into the world. But he could let them think they were saving themselves as best they could.

He could also stop the moon from crashing into the world. Link knew how to do that now, by using dungeon warps to defeat the four monsters keeping the giants captive. However, getting through Ikana Canyon and figuring out the Stone Tower had been a stressful bunch of cycles. He and Tatl had decided to take a cycle to relax so they could take on the last cycle in good condition. The fairy had wandered off earlier, but she'd promised to come back before the end of this day.

In his lap, Link had his Bomber's Notebook open. Relaxing was all well and good, but he needed a plan for the last cycle. The bare minimum he needed to do was beat the four monsters again. But that didn't feel good enough. To make things better, he was comparing schedules and problems. The first night had to be devoted to taking care of the aliens on the farm with Romani. But, he had to meet up with Anju as well, to convince her to stay in town. Then he had to convince Cremia to take a break too so she could attend Anju's wedding. They were friends, but hadn't spoken to each other in a while. Hopefully, getting Cremia to the wedding would help with that.

And there was helping the soldier's ghost in Ikana Canyon so he could be at peace, saving the Zora eggs and making sure Lulu knew where they were, helping the starving Goron on the ledge… some things were made better simply by defeating the monsters to lift the curses on the various lands, like the Gorons frozen in ice. But there were some things he needed to do. Like the Dekus in the swamp would be fine with the curse lifted, but he needed to return their princess immediately to save the monkey. And there were some things that were just proper to tell people, like letting the Deku butler know of his son's fate and the band know of Mikau's fate.

Link closed his eyes at that. "Goddess of Time… couldn't I have another day before this? To make sure those people don't die. That won't be enough time for Darmani, but at least for the Deku boy and Mikau."

Although he was quiet for a few minutes, there was no reply. Link didn't control how he traveled through time, just what he did with it. He hadn't arrived in Termina the day before, which could be why he couldn't go back to that day in this land. However, he could do the best he could with what time he got.

He heard a fairy's chime come near him. "Hey, what're you doing?" Tatl asked. "Studying? That's surprisingly nerdy of you."

"Sort of," Link said, looking over at her. "I'm planning the last cycle."

She bobbed in the air closer to his shoulder. "Huh, still surprising. You seemed like someone who just did things."

He shrugged. "Usually. But these events have to be timed right, so planning makes sense."

"I figured we can just use that time-slowing song whenever we need to do a lot of stuff," Tatl said.

"Well it lets me get a full sleep in just four hours," Link said. "That helps, especially when I'm trying to make the most people happy with the end of this adventure."

"That would be nice," she said. "But what's this about farming up a bunch of rupees? What would you need to buy?"

Shaking his head, he said, "It's for the bank. I will take some rupees with me when I leave, but we've basically been cheating the bank. If I leave some with the bank, they'll have more money than they thought, not less."

"You could just not use the bank in the last cycle," Tatl said. "They won't know any better."

"I'd still feel bad about it," Link said.

She sighed, but then said, "Well I guess that's why you're a hero. So what're you going to do after you get Majora's Mask for that freaky mask guy? Skull Kid's not bad, I promise! We could have lots of fun together!"

"I believe you, but I will be leaving," he said. "We looked all over Termina, but I haven't found anything about who I'm looking for."

Making some curious chimes, she asked, "Who're you looking for? I thought you were just a wandering adventurer."

"The fairy queen," he said. "But that's to ask her to revive a fairy named Navi, who was my first partner."

"Oh, you've had another fairy partner?"

Link nodded. "The Great Deku Tree assigned her to help me realize my fate. And once I did, she flew away. I thought she'd just returned to the Deku Tree, to report to him even though he'd died. But then my friend Saria told me that when most fairies fulfill their purpose, they often fade away and die. Right now, the only way I can meet Navi again is to find the fairy queen."

"I see," Tatl said. "I hope you can find her again! But then, what were you doing in that forest? As far as I know, the Great Fairy of Magic is the strongest fairy around here. I don't know where the fairy queen would be."

He'd been able to figure out that much, that the queen wasn't in this land. "Well Saria didn't know where the fairy queen lived. Nobody I asked knew; maybe the Deku Tree knew, but his rebirth won't be able to talk for several years. All I could find out was that she would live in an area with many fairies."

"Well that is true," she said. "Except I'd know it if the fairy queen lived there, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't."

"I mean to ask the Great Fairy of Magic, once things calm down here in Termina," Link said. "But if she doesn't know anything, I'll have to find another land to keep searching."

Then Tatl bobbed around excitedly. "Oo, but maybe Tael knows!"

"Your brother?" Link asked.

"Yup! He might be my little brother, but he's a real nerd and learned all kinds of stories by heart. Of course, he learned them mostly from the Great Fairies, so if she doesn't know, he might not. But I'm sure once you tell him that you're looking for the Fairy Queen, he'll be begging to come along just for the stories."

"I hope they know something," he said. "But aren't you two going to stay with Skull Kid? That's what it sounds like to me."

"Um, well that's the plan," Tatl said. "But finding the Fairy Queen does sound like another exciting adventure… hey, hey, but they might just both want to come along! I think Skull Kid would really like that, to be part of a big adventure! So yeah, let's go save him right away and start new!"

Link smiled at that. "Sure thing, but not right away. Remember, we want to leave this land a better place. That's important no matter where you go."

"Right, that would be great." She floated to ahead of him. "Is that Saria your girlfriend or something? You want to get back to her once you find Navi?"

"Huh?" Had she really asked about that? "No, Saria was my best friend for many years. She's important to me, but not like that." Then he shrugged. "I don't know what I'll do after finding the Fairy Queen and Navi. Maybe I'll go back to Hyrule."

"Did you have another girlfriend back there?" Tatl asked, although it was clear now that she was teasing him.

Link was puzzled for a moment, then recalled something. "Oh, no, not at all." He called out the Couple's Mask; it was a strange thing, almost featureless and yet it made people's hearts melt. "I never thought about that kind of thing, at least not before that time Anju and Kafei reunited on the last night."

"Huh, really?" she asked, now the one very puzzled. "I mean, you're still a kid, but I thought everybody was into romance, even those who claimed they weren't."

Nodding, he said, "I've lived with the Kokiri ever since I was a baby, and they are always children. They never grow up, being created exactly how they will always be. Because of that, none of our stories told about love or marriage. I knew nothing about that when I left the forest, but there was a lot I didn't know at the time. When we first helped them, I thought they were just really close friends, but then I saw that it was different than that."

"I never heard of a people like that," Tatl said. "But I guess that makes sense. I just didn't realize you were weird like that." She caught herself, pulling her glow in out of embarrassment. "Uh, not that's there's anything bad about that, it's just how you grew up."

Link smiled at her. "It's okay. You never asked me much about myself before now."

"Well you hardly ever talk, so I didn't know if you'd answer," she said, bouncing in the air around him.

"Sorry, I just don't feel comfortable talking much to most people," he said. "Especially with your attitude at first. But, I've seen that you're actually a good fairy, so I don't mind talking to you now."

"Aw shucks, thanks," Tatl said, pleased with that. Then she sighed dramatically. "Man, I was hoping to get some juicy gossip outta you now that you're being talkative. But now you're guilting me into not talking. Bah."

That made him chuckle. "I thought it might be that. Actually, just now, I remembered something that really confused me, the time I accidentally got engaged to a Zora."

Tatl chimed in shock. "H-huh?! Really?! You got yourself accidentally engaged?"

"It's like I just told you," Link said. "I didn't know what I was agreeing to. Before I left Hyrule, I told her that I thought of her as a friend. She got really upset and I didn't know how to respond to that. Thankfully, some of my other friends explained that I wasn't being mean to her. I was able to apologize to her then, and she apologized for misunderstanding as well. So it worked out well."

"But how did it happen?" she pestered him, getting close to his face. "Come on, tell me!"

"Alright," he said, then told her more about his time in Hyrule. That took up a lot of the day, but they were using this cycle to relax anyhow. He'd learned quite a lot about Tatl and her friends all along this adventure in Termina, so it was only fair that she learned some about him.

Of course, she might gossip about whatever he said to someone else, but Link felt like he didn't have anything to hide.


End file.
